felinesiren, I read as far as "I am hoping for a good economy, warmer climate and beaches" and was about to suggest moving to Australia. Then I saw "I don't want to sacrifice my beloved fall foliage and appalachian culture". Pity. Where I live (Canberra) we have fall foliage, but don't rate so high on Appalachian culture, as much as I love Appalachia's traditional music. Oh well, 4 out of 5 isn't so bad. Good luck anyway.
- Neil

Neil-I would like to move to Australia but I cannot get a job in my field (they don't have it there) and haven't found an Aussie guy to marry me so do you have other suggestions on how to get a visa longer than 3 months???? I'm serious! I'd leave tonight if I could.

On the CA real estate market, it depends where you are in CA. You can find homes in more rural CA (including the foothills near Sacramento) for 400K. I'm speaking of 3 Bd/ 2ba 1500 sq. feet, not new but in move in condition. I'm in San Jose, where the same will cost you 700 - 800K. The market has cooled a bit, but I don't see a crash happening. I've lived in the same house 18 yrs. We've had more ups than downs, and the downs were short lived. Our only really stagnant period was 90 to 96.

You might want to stay out of the
Portland/Multnomah County area...
our Govenor is a spineless jellyfish
and the public employee union demands
are driving the entire state into
bankruptcy.

That's Portland,OREGON by the way,
not Portland, Maine.

Abby43 - not to hijack felinesiren's post, but what field are you in? Honestly, this is beyond my (limited) area of competence, but the department of immigration site (www.immi.gov.au) would explain the options if you haven't already seen it. I do know that qualification for permanent residency is based on a points system and of course employability and possession of scarce skills are high scorers (nurses do better than philosophy tutors ). As for marriage, I'd like to be able to help but I've promised to refer all suitable candidates to my daughter.

I would veer away from Florida. We are in a 20 yr pattern for hurricanes higher than normal. You can no longer get insurance for your home here unless the state insures it. Everyones homeowners insurance here has doubled in the last year. I have lived here 20 yrs and everyone I know is thinking of leaving if this keeps up..

Neil-I am what you call a college consultant. I help high school students get into college. I thoroughly investigated a move to Sydney with an immigration lawyer to no avail. Being in education gives me more points but I still came up short because of my age (mid-thirties). The only school I could really work at is the American School in Sydney and I probably wouldn't have enough American clients to work with over there. Maybe I'm wrong....and would be happy to be proven otherwise!

Jeff's comments about Florida are basically accurate, but I have to chuckle at the last part, that people are thinking about leaving if this keeps up. Each day my commute gets longer and longer with more and more cars on the freeway, so that thinking process must be taking a long time.

I have lived in South florida for 27 years. It was a wonderful place when I moved here. I agree, everyone is talking about moving out of florida. The realestate taxes, the house insurance and now we have to worry about hurricanes. I bought a piece of property in a community in east tenn. on a lake and in a few years when I can retire I will be moving there.

The Northern VA , DC, MD area has all of what you ask, no matter what your profession is. One piece of "honest advice" is: find out when the worst weather months are wherever you head and spend a week - 10 days on vacation there before you leave Ohio. The 3rd week of July is "the worst" in terms of heat and humidity for this area, and the first 2 weeks of February are the worst for winter.
I recommend this test for anyone thinking of moving anywhere - for you snow birds: try Tampa Fla in August for 2 weeks; it is a bit different than what you found in winter! best regards, Tia

No place is perfect, but here is way better than nearly all those mentioned.
M (SMdA, Gto.)

felinesiren,

I have lived in southern California my entire life. The weather is wonderful, but you won't find fall foliage or much of a change in seasons at all. Although my husband and I are at least 10 years away from retirment, we know that retiring in California will be very expensive. We've been doing a lot of thinking about where to retire if we end up leaving California, and after several visits, decided on Williamsburg, VA. We ended up buying a house there last year, which we are currently renting out. The fall foliage and spring blossoms are gorgeous, you have the beach at Yorktown 15 minutes away, or Virginia Beach a little over an hour away. We loved the history, the culture and the architecture that you don't find in California. Washington DC is only 2 1/2 hours away. The winters are fairly mild compared to many states - they get 2 to 6 inches of snow annually. True, the summers are humid, but there is so much to love about Williamsburg, I think we can put up with 2 to 3 months of humidity.

Don't move to Southern California! It is WAY too expensive here and the pay is not commensurate with the cost of living. The average cost of a one bedroom apt. (in a decent area) is over $1,000.

You're much better off moving to North Carolina or Florida. Or Austin, Texas if you don't mind not living near the beach.

topping for copper

Middle Georgia is lovely, but can be HOT in the summer. That said, the winters are fantastic -- must better than Ohio. Every once in a while you get a dusting of snow, unless you're in the mountains of GA. Try Perry GA for a lovely, small town. You'd be about 30-45 minutes from Macon.

Athens Georgia, they have a great Vet program at UGA. Athens is close to Atlanta.
Middle Georgia is also a good place, Macon or Dublin Georgia.

I moved to Nashville from North Carolina (Triangle area) a year ago. If you're looking for both Appalachian culture and beaches, NC (or Virginia, but I haven't lived there) seem like your best bets. It depends on how close you want to be to either - Raleigh/Durham is close to both but is neither! Asheville is about four hours away, as is Boone. Wrightsville Beach/Wilmington is two hours; Outer Banks is about four.

As other posters have mentioned, if you're looking to get into vet school, NC State in Raleigh has a good one. The Triangle area is an interesting mix - people have moved in from everywhere to work in RTP or go to school, so the area is transient and not stereotypically Southern. (I actually disliked it at first - I was expecting something closer to my native Tennessee!) But there are great things about the area.

Raleigh/Cary, based on my observations, are family-oriented, good schools, etc., although Raleigh has a lot of young adults as well. Durham is an interesting city - some socioeconomic tension, as you can tell if you've been paying attention to the recent Duke lacrosse story - but if I were moving back that's where I'd live. There are some great parts of town. The schools aren't as good as Wake County (Raleigh), but if that's not a concern, I'd say go to Durham. I was in grad school in Chapel Hill; it's a great town, but housing is much more expensive than Durham (Chapel Hill schools are great, though). You could also check some of the smaller towns around the area - Hillsborough, Pittsboro, etc.

Please explain the terms "Appalachian culture" --

The only one who can decide what will work for you is you. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Some may love snow, some love beaches. You need to sit down and do some soul searching yourself. Make a list of what you want and what you don't want. Then select a place that fits the list. Then visit and explore and do a really honest assesment.

I did this several years ago and moved to Arizona. It's great for me, but my reasons for wanting to be here might not appeal to you.

In the end it doesn't matter at all what we think it's what you feel in your gut.

Good luck.